Contributor: Zoe
Submission: Thoughts about creating lasting and repeatable in-game spaces.
Part of making a believable gameworld is offering your players predictable and appealing in-game spaces. These are places that, almost every game, will make an appearance-- moreover, the places will look the same time and time again. In other words, it's not the standard, but oh-so-lovingly dressed, module space or one-time tavern. These are areas to which players can and will want to return. I identify two types of these spaces: 1) permanent spaces and 2) visiting spaces. Visiting spaces are a bit trickier, so I'll start with the former.
Permanent Spaces
Permanent spaces are the in-game spaces that create the tangible and accessible world around the players. They are a place where a player can always go to achieve a reliable goal: meeting with an NPC, chatting with fellow players, receiving a mission briefing, replenishing abilities, and/or simply relaxing. The best examples of a permanent space is a tavern space, a faction hall, or a temple. Most games (that I have played) have at least one or all of these, and they are important to fleshing out a gameworld. Permanent spaces are the places that populate a player's imagined map of the gameworld-- they're like the local drugstore, the college, the favorite restaurant, and the bookstore.
But permanent spaces are trickier than they might initially seem. Firstly, they occupy an IG building all the time-- therefore, they need to be appealing: the wall coverings and one or two props that satisfy high-combat modules obviously feel sparse in a situated temple. More importantly, permanent spaces need to feel real. For a moment, consider a magic show: when the audience sees the magician's tricks once, they have no idea how the magician accomplished the magic. However, when the audience sees the tricks multiple times, they start to get an idea of how the "magic" is done. The same is true for a LARP: a player, walking into a module space only once, isn't necessarily going to notice (or care) that the glowing-orb is actually a Rite-Aid toy, and the slimy cavern walls are black tarps. However, if the player visits a space multiple times, they start to care that the props and decor are very clearly real-world props. Repeated visitations help to break down willing suspension of disbelief.
So, what to do? Well, obviously, you can only replicate a magic props so far. So, when you can, emphasize "realness." Instead of tarps, get canvas, tapestries, or rope to line a wall. (Bill had a great spot on canvas in LARPs.) Sure, you still need to use that Rite-Aid magic orb, but surround it with realistic objects: magical tomes (with stuff written in them), a chest with gold, and an aged magnifying glass. Moreover, in your permanent space, perform "real actions." A tavern is, again, the best place to do this: bake food, serve water, and tidy up. In a temple, think of the traces of temple-inhabitant activity: agricultural and artisnal tools, crafts, and writing. (I plan to do a later post on "Propping Up Characters: Signature Props.") By activating it with real-life activities, permanent spaces stop being dioramas and become interactive, gameworld areas.
Visiting Spaces
In some ways, visiting spaces are much more difficult than permanent spaces. These are the areas that make a regular appearance in a game, but are not permanent fixtures in the player's landscape. Moreover, they generally occupy a space that is shared by a variety of modules-- therefore, the IG space needs to be able to very quickly morph from a-to-b. However, despite the need for efficiency, visiting spaces are not rotating module spaces that can change from appearance-to-appearance. (They are accessed, for instance, by a traveling NPC and/or a magic portal.) This might be a magic teahouse, a sorcerer's lair, or an ancient ruin. In many ways, visiting spaces should be treated as important NPCs: in appearance and personality, they should be repeatable, unique, and engaging. I'll give an example.
For instance, imagine that the PCs regularly visit Yababa in her witch's hut in the Drastagory Woods-- Yababa's costume and make-up are fixed, and the character is played by the same NPC. Yababa is always played a loony coot who eats salamanders, and has only the thinnest grasp on reality. The players would be annoyed, and probably snapped out of game, if they went to meet Yababa and she greeted them in a chipper soprano, offering them cupcakes and gossip about politics. Yababa, as a repeated NPC, needs to be consistent. Her hut is no different-- like Yababa, the hut-in-the-woods, is a "character" that players meet routinely. It should communicate character and atmosphere almost as much as its actual inhabitant.
How to do this, however, is a tricky matter. Logistically, visiting spaces are not permanent spaces-- accordingly, devouting the staffpower, time, energy, and money to a visiting space may not be practical. (If it is? More power to you.) Moreover, like all IG places, storage space needs to be devoted to keep materials safe-- while a permanent space, which appears every game for the entire game, may reasonably require 3-4 storage totes (or more), a visiting space needs to take up considerably less area. Accordingly, economy and efficiency again come into play. I blathered on for awhile about the "Still Life Theory of Minimality." Basically, you need a modest budget, a storage tote (maybe two), a pen and notebook, and a free afternoon to gather the stuff. Firstly, think of a couple wall-hangings or stretches of fabric to cover up any OoG items (like school chairs, posters, or lamps). Then, think of three-five items, easily stowed, which would make a visiting space pop. (For Yababa's hut, this might be a cauldron and pestle, some bunches of herbs, a spellbook, a skeleton, and various creepy-crawly knick-knacks that can be scattered about.) Write this all down, pack it into the storage tote, and put the list on top of the stuff. This space can then be easily set-up and taken down (especially when Yababa's hut needs to turn into Trathmoira's fort). Most importantly, the visiting space, to players, appears reliably and in detail.
What are your tips to creating lasting permanent and/or visiting spaces? Do you have any favorite IG examples?
Submission: Thoughts about creating lasting and repeatable in-game spaces.
Part of making a believable gameworld is offering your players predictable and appealing in-game spaces. These are places that, almost every game, will make an appearance-- moreover, the places will look the same time and time again. In other words, it's not the standard, but oh-so-lovingly dressed, module space or one-time tavern. These are areas to which players can and will want to return. I identify two types of these spaces: 1) permanent spaces and 2) visiting spaces. Visiting spaces are a bit trickier, so I'll start with the former.
Permanent Spaces
Permanent spaces are the in-game spaces that create the tangible and accessible world around the players. They are a place where a player can always go to achieve a reliable goal: meeting with an NPC, chatting with fellow players, receiving a mission briefing, replenishing abilities, and/or simply relaxing. The best examples of a permanent space is a tavern space, a faction hall, or a temple. Most games (that I have played) have at least one or all of these, and they are important to fleshing out a gameworld. Permanent spaces are the places that populate a player's imagined map of the gameworld-- they're like the local drugstore, the college, the favorite restaurant, and the bookstore.
But permanent spaces are trickier than they might initially seem. Firstly, they occupy an IG building all the time-- therefore, they need to be appealing: the wall coverings and one or two props that satisfy high-combat modules obviously feel sparse in a situated temple. More importantly, permanent spaces need to feel real. For a moment, consider a magic show: when the audience sees the magician's tricks once, they have no idea how the magician accomplished the magic. However, when the audience sees the tricks multiple times, they start to get an idea of how the "magic" is done. The same is true for a LARP: a player, walking into a module space only once, isn't necessarily going to notice (or care) that the glowing-orb is actually a Rite-Aid toy, and the slimy cavern walls are black tarps. However, if the player visits a space multiple times, they start to care that the props and decor are very clearly real-world props. Repeated visitations help to break down willing suspension of disbelief.
So, what to do? Well, obviously, you can only replicate a magic props so far. So, when you can, emphasize "realness." Instead of tarps, get canvas, tapestries, or rope to line a wall. (Bill had a great spot on canvas in LARPs.) Sure, you still need to use that Rite-Aid magic orb, but surround it with realistic objects: magical tomes (with stuff written in them), a chest with gold, and an aged magnifying glass. Moreover, in your permanent space, perform "real actions." A tavern is, again, the best place to do this: bake food, serve water, and tidy up. In a temple, think of the traces of temple-inhabitant activity: agricultural and artisnal tools, crafts, and writing. (I plan to do a later post on "Propping Up Characters: Signature Props.") By activating it with real-life activities, permanent spaces stop being dioramas and become interactive, gameworld areas.
Visiting Spaces
In some ways, visiting spaces are much more difficult than permanent spaces. These are the areas that make a regular appearance in a game, but are not permanent fixtures in the player's landscape. Moreover, they generally occupy a space that is shared by a variety of modules-- therefore, the IG space needs to be able to very quickly morph from a-to-b. However, despite the need for efficiency, visiting spaces are not rotating module spaces that can change from appearance-to-appearance. (They are accessed, for instance, by a traveling NPC and/or a magic portal.) This might be a magic teahouse, a sorcerer's lair, or an ancient ruin. In many ways, visiting spaces should be treated as important NPCs: in appearance and personality, they should be repeatable, unique, and engaging. I'll give an example.
For instance, imagine that the PCs regularly visit Yababa in her witch's hut in the Drastagory Woods-- Yababa's costume and make-up are fixed, and the character is played by the same NPC. Yababa is always played a loony coot who eats salamanders, and has only the thinnest grasp on reality. The players would be annoyed, and probably snapped out of game, if they went to meet Yababa and she greeted them in a chipper soprano, offering them cupcakes and gossip about politics. Yababa, as a repeated NPC, needs to be consistent. Her hut is no different-- like Yababa, the hut-in-the-woods, is a "character" that players meet routinely. It should communicate character and atmosphere almost as much as its actual inhabitant.
How to do this, however, is a tricky matter. Logistically, visiting spaces are not permanent spaces-- accordingly, devouting the staffpower, time, energy, and money to a visiting space may not be practical. (If it is? More power to you.) Moreover, like all IG places, storage space needs to be devoted to keep materials safe-- while a permanent space, which appears every game for the entire game, may reasonably require 3-4 storage totes (or more), a visiting space needs to take up considerably less area. Accordingly, economy and efficiency again come into play. I blathered on for awhile about the "Still Life Theory of Minimality." Basically, you need a modest budget, a storage tote (maybe two), a pen and notebook, and a free afternoon to gather the stuff. Firstly, think of a couple wall-hangings or stretches of fabric to cover up any OoG items (like school chairs, posters, or lamps). Then, think of three-five items, easily stowed, which would make a visiting space pop. (For Yababa's hut, this might be a cauldron and pestle, some bunches of herbs, a spellbook, a skeleton, and various creepy-crawly knick-knacks that can be scattered about.) Write this all down, pack it into the storage tote, and put the list on top of the stuff. This space can then be easily set-up and taken down (especially when Yababa's hut needs to turn into Trathmoira's fort). Most importantly, the visiting space, to players, appears reliably and in detail.
What are your tips to creating lasting permanent and/or visiting spaces? Do you have any favorite IG examples?
I like this series of posts!
ReplyDeleteFor permanent spaces, a lot of games will delegate the decoration, packing/unpacking, or even the storage of props and decorations to particular PCs (in exchange for CP/Goblins/whatevs). That seems to work really well, since it takes stress off the staff, and the people setting up the area have the experience to make it looks consistent.
i think this is a great idea-- especially since PCs often have a better sense of the "lived" gameworld community than NPCs.
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